You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.

We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!

Say hello and join the conversation

Subscribe to topics and forums to get automatic updates

Get your own profile and make new friends

Classifieds with all sorts of Subaru goodies

Photo hosting in our gallery

Meet other cool people with cool cars

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Make your life more fulfilling and join today! You and your Subaru won't regret it, we guarantee** it.

* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!

Help needed ASAP. How much would you pay...

I'm in Ft Lauderdale, about to start a trip of some 2k miles (Thursday)... and I don't have a car yet. I'd like to avoid renting a car ($800 or so) and it would be a good opportunity to replace my '99 OBW, which needs some maintenance. But so far I have not seen a soobie worth of being bought.

Enter a dark green '01 Legacy GT sedan Limited, automatic, with 145 k or so on the odometer. The thing is, the car is far from perfect, and I don't know if the pricing is fair. The carfax shows 3 crashes, but the title is clean and the only trace of a problem is a slight misalignment of the hood. There's just a tad of paint bubbling in the rear wheel well (the car was in CT until '09), an some cosmetic damage on the interior (glossy part of the wood trim peeling off because of the sun/heat).

The real issues that worry me are:
- there is torque bind
- check engine light on, codes P0304 and P104
- leak at the last junction of the exhaust, behind the rear axle
- the rear end of the sunroof doesn't close flush with the roof, but maybe a tad less than 1/4" lower.
- the all too familiar smell if the engine oil evaporating on the exhaust was present

The car is being sold by a Volvo dealer, which obviously don't have a clue about the car, and the list price was $5k. The last offer I heard today was $4.4k title in hand. I'm very tempted, and it would save me renting a car to drive home to MI. But how much is the car worth by itself? How much is it to fix the torque bind? The rest of the stuff is probably not critical, but a bargaining chip

I would really appreciate some input.

Thanks!

Edit: I have the carfax for it, if it helps. The file is too big to put it here, though...

I agree it's overpriced. Still, the question is how much should I expect to pay for a car in similar conditions. It looks like finding a decent Subaru down here is impossible. Actually, finding *any* decent car down here (for a decent amount of money) is impossible. (Here's the carfax, btw)

Right now my options are limited because of the short time I have before driving north, and if I don't buy something I'll have to give $800 to a car rental, and I'd rather put that money in a car instead of giving it to them.

According to Edmunds that car (in "average" condition) should be $3200. Is that realistic? Including title and registration, maybe $3500?

(Btw: I though the one of the codes was P0104, but I remember it was something to do with the front O2 sensor)

If you rush into something most likely it will cost you more.
Anything that needs that amount of work is not a good bet for a long trip before the needed maintenance is done. Fly there and Drive Back? FL is not a Subaru place.

Je je... I know, believe me. The thing is my brothers wanted to visit me (in MI), but want to drive along the Mississippi, and they invited me to go along. I just traveled a couple of days in advance to see if there was a car that would save us the rental. So, it's either buying something or pouring those $800 down the drain and investing some money on the '99 (it needs struts, a new windshield and other niceties). I love my OBW (and my wife likes it even more... she really wanted another OBW) but I know it's money that will never be recovered in any shape or form, so buying another soobie was very enticing. I guess I'll have to look into a Jetta wagon :-\ or something like that.

I learned my lesson about Florida cars as a whole, and Florida "private dealers" as well (hint: there seems to be none, and most of the cars have a grim history behind them). Next time I'll convince my brothers to go to Oregon or Colorado

Around here structural rust is what kills the Pathfinders. So definately crawl under and check that out.

Someone asked me today why didn't I use something to get rid of the rust. My answer was "because I would dissolve the car"

Rust is the reason I'm reluctant to do anything on the Soobie. I know once I'm done doing anything the car will be much better, but I'm afraid of breaking bolts in the process. The body is not that bad, but I've had bad experiences with some of the bolts and I'm not in a hurry to spend 10 hours removing one bolt /nut